thedom

You can make a beautiful background directly in PTE that match perfectly your picture... with the picture itself. Here is how to do it : Add your image twice to a slide. For the one at the bottom : apply a huge horinzontal zoom to the picture (x5000 by example) and leave the vertical zoom to 100. Decrease the opacity to something like 50% or 60% (be sure to have a black background (in Customize Slide | Main tab) For the one at the top : apply a zoom of 85% (horizontal and vertical) and apply a shadow to it (in Common tab | tick Drop shadow) Here is a demo that use those backgrounds to automatically and perfectly match the pictures. I animated the backgrounds and the pictures but it's the same "technique" of backgrounds. Download the demo here

Thank you for your comments. Adda, I am back for more than a month already. I just released an improved version of this demo (same link). The display problems are for most of them resolved. And I totally rebuilded the opening sequence, and added a closing sequence. May be not final before release of the template but not far...

=====================> START UPDATE <===================== I released the final demo of this effet and the template is available for free too. Download the last version of this demo here You can donwload the template here for free. Enjoy. =====================> END UPDATE <====================== Lin posted a long time ago a demo of a scroll effect, using one of Pano's Photoshop action. If I remember correctly, he was not totally satisfied with the result because of the PTE slide transition he used ("curling of page unrolling from top" I think). Actually, it was a very convincing scroll opening sequence, then , in his demo, he panned the text on the scroll. Unfortunately, I didn't find his post on the PTE forum but you can download his demo on his site : go to http://www.lin-evans.net/demo/index.html and download the scroll demo at the bottom of the page. Anyway, I tried to simulate the same kind of effect but I would like to try to go further. I do not wish to pan text or images, I want the whole scroll to unroll in a "realistic" way and the pictures/text displayed on the scroll to appear one after each other. The effect is 100% manual (no slide transition used) for a better control. I think it's much more easier to make something more realistic today because of the PTE mask feature. Here is a quick and dirty demo of the effect. Download it here I still need to work on it but I wanted to share with you what I already made. As you will noticed, there are display bugs and a big problem in the middle of the sequence but it's something I can fix easily, it just need work... and time ! Once I will be glad with the result, I will release a FREE template. I will give you the ability to display something like 30 pictures (instead of one in the demo right now). Suggestions and comments welcome.

Waow, it would be a main new feature and would deserves a 6.0 version. Thanks Igor for this great news !

Here it is, it's finally springtime ! I took my camera last week-end, the weather was warm and shiny... little bugs and flowers are coming out... Here is a composition to celebrate the awekaning of nature. [ 2 minutes and 54 seconds - 8.95Mb ] Download this animation here on my website. I made an intensive use of PTE masks, nothing revolutionary but I like the result. I tried to make something elegant to point up my pictures. How do you find the result ?

Here is a new kind of animation using a black frame. It's a very classic presentation and in my mind is very appropriate for black & white pictures. You can download the demo here in the demos section. And if you like it, you can download the template here in the free templates section of my website.

Jeff, it's very hard to help you because I don't know what effect you exactly wanted to achieve and I'm not sure to fully undesrtand the problem with mask "all broken up". I tried to modify your project though. I made a new mask because for your's, the black color was actually grey => the image still appeared in this area, which I guess you didn't want. And instead of zooming the picture included in the mask, I zoomed the mask container itself (including the picture). Don't know if it helps. masks_Mar26_2009_23_57_08.zip

Unfortunately, ShowVideoPTE seems to be not compatible with Vista. This utility needs to write in a temporary file and Vista won't let do it. The other problem is that Marcovelo's HidesTaskBar v2 (to hide the taskbar during play back of videos) seems to be incompatible with PTE v5.6.1. For both problems, see screen capture attached. It means, there is no way today to be able to play videos. Of course, I can convert the slideshow into a video and insert the videos but that's not what I was looking for. Too bad.

Perfectly smooth on my PC (in full screen 1920x1200). I am impressed by the quality, even if you can see pixels on rare occasion during some transitions. If I watch it 1 meter away from my screen (24'), it's almost perfect. Configuration : Intel Core Quad CPU Q9300 @ 2.50Ghz NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GS

Maureen, Howard, Thank you for letting me know the problem. Can you try this direct link and tell me how it works : Direct Link If you have the same problem, it means it's a problem related to my my web hoster 1and1 and I will contact them. Thank you for your feedback.

Hello Jenni, If I understand correctly what you want to achieve, I think you will have the best result if you make a single exe. If you use "Run external application", the windows taskbar is visible for one second (at least on my pc). Here is what you have to make : - slide # 1 : your menu with option "loop this slide" and two buttons : Button A : go to slide #2 Button B : go to slide #3 - slide # 2 : your diagram with option "loop this slide" and one button : Button B : go to slide #3 - slide #3 to #n : your "third slideshow" - slide #n+1 : your menu (identical to slide #1). It should work. See simplified PTE project below. Menu4Jenni.zip

Here is the begining of the readme file. You might find it interesting if you want to "include" videos in your slideshows.

Here is a new slideshow I made especially for my Mum to send her pictures of her grandchildrens, during our vaccations in Tanzania (yes again ) I think it's a good way to send photos because you can add text, give some news or add comments, change the stamp (country, currency, amount), ... [ 3 minutes and 36 seconds - 14.07Mb ] Please download it here on my website. So, what do you think of this one ? PS : Please note thet the stamp was made with the help of panosfx stamp action. You can download it here on http://panosfx.com

Hi Mary, Thank you for your comment. Of course, I would prefer if you would like this new animation but I don't post my creations to have only good feedbacks. It's important for me to know if people like it or not, it helps me to improve my shows and do better next time. If you have the opportunity to make a photo safari, do not hesitate. It's one of the best vaccation I ever had, my kids, my wife and I will have have fantastic memories for ever.

Thanks to you Ken and to Udo who send me "the precious" too.

I want to make a family AV with PTE that includes short videos. As my PC was stolen last summer, I do not have granot's utility ShowVideoPTE any more. And it is not hosted on granot's page http://www.thailandphotoalbum.com/ any more. Could anybody send me a copy of this wonderful tool to thefreedom @ free.fr ? Thanks.

Hello Geoff, I think this is what you are refering to : http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4604

Here is a second slideshow of my trip in Tanzania. [ 4 minutes and 22 seconds - 41.26Mb ] I made an other kind of presentation for my pictures, a kind of photo pile. It is perfectly smooth on my PC and should run OK even on old configuration You can download it here on my website. I hope you will enjoy it. Comments welcome.

I modified the show (same link). You were right, it's much better now. Thank you for your suggestion.

potwnc, that's a good use of mask. What you could have done is to put all your objects (map, mask and route) in a PTE frame and apply pan/zoom/rotate to this frame instead of applying individually the PZR to each object separately. Just a suggestion to this idea for which the creator is actually Al Robinson. That's what I did to your project attached. I hope you don't mind. mask_demo2_Mar14_2009_18_29_03.zip

Here is a new attempt to make a realistic photo album. [ 1 minute and 48 seconds - 11.55Mb] For this new version, I used PTE masks and in my opinion, the result is better. In the previous version, when the page flipped, you could see the image on the left was just zoomed. In this version, I make it appear progressively. It's really hard to explain, especially in english. Other advantage : with the masks, I didn't have to cut my pictures in two half. I used the whole picture displayed through masks, one for the left page and an other one for the right page. It's really a gain of time. I think the effect of the flipping page is more realistic. I corrected some minor graphic bugs too, made some improvements with the shadows and added the book closing sequence at the end. By the way, the flowers you can watch in this slideshow are the first one I could shoot in my garden this year. I can't wait for springtime. Download it here, on my personal website. So, what do you think ?

Almark, I totally agree with your comment. You're right, it will look much more natural if the direction of the animal's movement is the same as the pan of the image. I would be honored if you could show my AV to members of your camera club. When do you plan to show it ? If I have time, I will make the modifications with th movements... And you are more than welcome to visit my website from time to time. Igor, thank you for implementing antialiasing in next version. DaveG, NoelH, thank you for your test and feedback. DaveG, the resolution of the pictures is 1280x960. Happynewyear83, this animation is quite complex : 10 objects by slide to simulate shadows, white frames, reflection, ... parent-child relations, frames, PTE Masks, a lot of keypoints for each object with different speeds options. I don't your skills with PTE but if you are a beginner I really recommend to start with simple a animation. You will find excellent tutorials posted by members in the Tutorials and Articles section of this forum : http://www.picturestoexe.com/forums/index.php?showforum=8 You can also download templates in the free templates section of my website : http://www.thedom.fr/share/dload.php?actio...y&cat_id=22

Thank you very much for your comments. I noticed this problem of jagged (stepped) edges too. Actually, I think it's because antialiasing is not applied to PTE masks. I think I will make a suggestion for Igor to add it (if it's feasible) because it's quite annoying. Anyway, I changed my presentation a little bit , I used a "trick" for this aliasing not to be visible (just applied a white .png white border over it), changed the movements of the pictures in order fo the transition to be smoother even with medium video cards and added 2 pics. Xaver, DaveG, if you have the courage and time, could you please download it again and tell me how it runs for you now ?

More than 6 month after my trip in Tanzania, here is finally a short slideshow of my safari. To make this slideshow, I made an intensive use of masks to enhance my pictures. Probably overdone in this show but please consider it as a promotion of this feature. [ 5 minutes and 25 seconds - 37.45Mb] Download it here, on my personal website. As usual, comments welcome.

Hi Lin, I wish you to be in good spirits as much as possible and to have strenght and mental balance when needed. I hope this period will be as short as possible for a speedy recovery for her. My thoughts to you and your wife my friend.